Chan makes surprise visit for Olympic mascot unveiling

Beijing – Action star Jackie Chan said he guessed two of the five mascots for the 2008 Beijing Olympics before they were unveiled.

Chan made a surprise appearance Friday night at a nationally televised gala at a Beijing sports arena, where he danced on stage carrying stuffed toys of the mascots.

The mascots, selected three months ago by Olympic officials, were a closely guarded secret. Their announcement marked the 1,000-day countdown to the event.

Before the show, Chan said he made a bet with a friend on their identities, correctly guessing they would be a panda and a Tibetan antelope.

Joining them are depictions of a fish, swallow and the Olympic flame, each a color of one of the Olympic rings.

“I was right about two,” Chan told reporters afterward.

Colonial Williamsburg embraces ‘New World’

Williamsburg, Va. – Colonial Williamsburg is rolling out the red carpet for Hollywood’s newest rendition of the old story of Capt. John Smith and Pocahontas.

“The New World,” a big-budget movie about the settling of Jamestown in 1607, will make its East Coast debut Dec. 21 at Kimball Theatre.

It will have two red-carpet, invitation-only screenings, Colonial Williamsburg and the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation announced Friday.

The film dramatizes encounters between white colonists and American Indians, focusing on the relationship between Smith, portrayed by Colin Farrell, and the Indian princess Pocahontas, who intervened to save him when he was captured by her tribe.

Q’orianka Kilcher plays Pocahontas. Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale and August Schellenberg also star.

Director Terrence Malick filmed scenes at Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America, and nearby locations.

“The New World” opens in limited release Dec. 25 and nationwide Jan. 13.

Actor to serve as spokesman for disabled veterans group

New York – Gary Sinise will serve as the national spokesman for the Disabled Veterans for Life Memorial Foundation.

The actor, who played Vietnam vet “Lt. Dan” Taylor in “Forrest Gump,” agreed to the spokesman position, it was announced Friday. The foundation is working to build a disabled veterans memorial in Washington, D.C., near the Capitol.

“I am deeply moved to have been asked to participate in this absolutely necessary memorial,” Sinise said in a statement. “I can only hope that my participation will help draw attention to the cause and ensure its successful fruition as the nation’s first and only such tribute built specifically to these courageous men and women.”

Lois Pope, a co-founder of the foundation, said, “His portrayal in ‘Forrest Gump’ of a soldier who loses his legs in the Vietnam conflict brought home the terrible price that our men and women pay in the fight for our country’s freedom.”

The foundation is aiming to raise $65 million for the memorial, which former President Clinton authorized in 2000.

Sinise, who was nominated for a supporting actor Oscar for his performance in “Forrest Gump,” is currently starring in CBS’s “CSI: New York.”

Fans most want pictures taken with Pitt, Jolie

New York – Paparazzi go to extremes to snap photos of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie – and according to a new survey, you’d like to be in the frame.

A poll conducted by TakeGreatPictures.com says that more people would like to have their picture taken with Pitt than any other male movie star, and more would love to pose with Jolie than any female star.

Pitt’s 36.1 percent of the online vote beat out Johnny Depp by just 60 votes. Jolie’s closest competition was Halle Berry, only 42 votes shy of Jolie’s 25.6 percent. Pitt’s ex-wife Jennifer Aniston also came close with 23.2 percent.

Though Pitt and Jolie have not confirmed a relationship, the two have been sporadically spotted and photographed together in recent months. Pitt and Aniston divorced earlier this year after 4 1/2 years of marriage.

Also receiving a high number of votes were George Clooney, Tom Cruise, Ben Affleck, Charlize Theron and Jennifer Lopez.

The Web site, a nonprofit site about photography, said it received votes from more than 4,000 readers. Other categories included taking a photo with historical figures.

More people said they’d like to say “cheese” with Albert Einstein than John F. Kennedy, and Cleopatra likewise bested Mother Theresa.

Judge clears way for lawsuit against Gene Simmons

New York – A woman who claims to be a former girlfriend of KISS rocker Gene Simmons can proceed with a defamation lawsuit in which she says he made her sound like a “sex-addicted nymphomaniac” during a VH1 television show, a judge has ruled.

State Supreme Court Justice Rosalyn Richter denied Simmons’ motion to dismiss two of three claims by Georgeann Walsh Ward, 53, who says in court papers made public Friday that Simmons slandered her during a “rockumentary” about KISS.

Ward said in her lawsuit, filed in January, that photos of her appeared 11 times during the report on KISS, which was shown on the network several times in July and August. In it, Simmons claimed to have had sexual encounters with 4,600 women.

The documentary, “When KISS Ruled The World,” chronicled the band’s 30-year career, its impact on rock music and the quartet’s “wild” antics. The other band members were guitarist/singer Paul Stanley, drummer Peter Criss, and guitarist Ace Frehley.

Simmons says during the show, “There wasn’t a girl that was off limits, and I enjoyed every one of them,” Ward’s court papers say.